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Changes to Google Search Central docs · Google's crawlers

Authenticate requests with Web Bot Auth (experimental)

Google has changed this page once since we started watching it on 3 October 2026.

Times are UK time

minor change Wording only: the meaning is the same

Google removed the word "architecture" from the reference to the HTTP Message Signatures for automated traffic specification in the Web Bot Auth documentation.

Lincoln Digital's AI Overview

This is a minor wording change; the guidance still points to the same specification and GitHub examples, so no practical effect on implementation is expected.

Generated by AI from the change below: a guide to what it could mean, not a certainty.

Word for word

red was taken outgreen was put in

In “Verify requests yourself”

If you want to authenticate our requests yourself, refer to the HTTP Message Signatures for automated traffic [removed: architecture ]specification and example implementations on GitHub. In general, the key protocol steps are:

On Google's page

The "before" is the same page with the earlier wording put back.

Before and after on Google's "Authenticate requests with Web Bot Auth (experimental)" page: removed words in red, added words in green

Changed between our checks at and (UK time)Google's “last updated” date moved from 4 May 2026 to 13 Oct 2026Link to this change

Quoted from Authenticate requests with Web Bot Auth (experimental) by Google, licensed under CC BY 4.0, only where it changed, with the changes marked.

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